Summary: C/P.
Leone's "30 Days" challenge. Chapter Six:
Chak and Tom overcome some difficulties. A new crew member arrives.
Copyright January 2002 Cassatt
The First Officer and Chief
Helmsman had discussed their situation, their renewed relationship, with
their commanding officer and received her blessings and promises of support.
The younger of the two had been somewhat surprised at her reaction. His
father had always given him the impression that Kathryn Janeway was conservative
and rigid. And though the prior seven or eight months had shown him another
side to his captain, still, there was a part of him that had expected a
different outcome to their meeting. She'd seemed a bit shell-shocked. What
she'd eventually say to Admiral Paris if they ever had the opportunity
to communicate with him, Tom had no idea. Having a son who'd joined the
Maquis was bad enough, having a son-in-law who was a Maquis captain would
be quite another matter altogether.
They'd also had a very long talk with Kes. Somehow she managed to adjust the ground rules for their shared parenting. Tom and Chakotay would play a much more significant role in the child's life - right from the beginning. Neelix had come around to the point where he wanted to be a father figure, but he wouldn't take anything away from Tom's position as the child's natural father. Tom was starting to believe that he could do this - if two people who were this close to him believed it, then perhaps he actually, really, could.
He'd find out what Harry had to say on the subject in the morning. Because the rest of the night belonged to him and Chakotay. Just the two of them. And a bed.
~ *~ *~ *~
Chakotay rolled Tom onto his side and spooned up behind him. They'd tried their usual position, Tom on his back under Chakotay, but that hadn't worked. Tom had jerked away at the first gentle attempt at penetration. He'd insisted they try again, with him on his stomach, and though Chakotay had protested, he'd gone ahead and tried. Tom had begun to crawl away this time, and Chakotay's heart had broken at the sight. So he'd rolled them, and was holding the man he loved in their old, usual, sleeping position. It felt good, and right. He kissed Tom's head.
"Please," Tom said softly, "please Chak, I need you inside me..."
He was almost ashamed to admit that he needed it, too, needed to feel that primal connection between the two of them, needed to pleasure his lover, and in that process, pleasure himself. When he didn't answer, Tom reached behind them both and pulled Chakotay's hips, bringing out an involuntary moan from deep in his throat. He was still very hard, and trailing his hand down through the curls on Tom's chest and belly, he found that Tom was, too.
"Please..," Tom whispered.
He could feel himself relenting, as Tom rocked his exquisitely beautiful ass against his erection. "We can try one more time - just like we are. But this time, Tom, we'll treat you as if you are a virgin," he said soothingly. "You've never been penetrated before. No one, and nothing has ever touched you there before. This will be your first time..." He caressed the man from his head, down his shoulder, then down his back to his ass, and this time, Tom moaned softly and turned his head. Chakotay leaned in and took his mouth in a deep, slow kiss, rocking himself gently against Tom.
Tom broke the kiss and faced front again, but he was gently moving right along with him, the rhythm of it lulling them both into a place of security. Chakotay kept stroking him, up and down his side, his back, his chest, with long, slow strokes. He kissed the side of Tom's neck, placing open mouthed, gentle kisses there as Tom moved his head to make it easier. Eventually, Chakotay narrowed the focus of his touches to Tom's cheeks, gradually parting them and running his fingers up and down the inside, lightly brushing over Tom's opening, watching for any reaction. There was none, other than Tom rocking his pelvis and making a noise of assent.
Chakotay once again reached for the lube, getting some on his finger. "I love you, Tom," he said as he placed the tip of his finger at the opening. Just placed it there, letting Tom feel it. "You are everything to me..." Tom wasn't flinching, so Chakotay laid kisses on his neck again and slowly pushed his finger in. Tom moaned quietly. He moved his finger around. Tom moaned again. He withdrew the finger and Tom protested.
"More, Chak...," he said huskily.
Chakotay complied, and soon had three fingers inside Tom, moving them, stretching him slowly, kissing him all the while, working just as hard to ignore his own needs, as Tom continued to rock himself against Chakotay's aching erection. Then he removed the fingers.
"Are you ready," he said into his ear. Tom nodded, and ran a hand along Chakotay's hip. He managed to coat himself with more lube then placed himself at the stretched opening. "I love you," he said again, and pushed.
Tom, this time, did not flinch - he pushed back, making a soft guttural noise and pulling once more on Chakotay's hip. Chakotay slid in, and they both moaned. The urge to thrust, to come, was overpowering but he stayed still, savoring the connection, the all encompassing feeling of being right where he belonged. Tom turned his head and they kissed deeply, merging mouths and tongues just as they were joined below. Chakotay thrust involuntarily. Tom moved away from his lips, trying to catch his breath.
"You okay?" Chakotay said quietly. He was surprised words were forming, he was so excruciatingly close to climaxing.
"God, yes," Tom said. He reached up, behind Chakotay's head, and held it, slowly moving his fingers over the short hair there. "God, yes, Chak... I love you... please... do it..."
He could feel himself on another plane, somewhere, where there was only the two of them, where they had never been apart, but had been allowed to love, and enjoy their life together. He bent his head and lavished more slow kisses on Tom's neck, inhaling the scents of them, and began to thrust, willing his orgasm down.
They moved against each other in the same languid rhythm they'd been following. Chakotay trailed his hand down Tom's chest and found a hot, weeping erection, which he surrounded with his palm, and caressed with his fingers. Neither was far from climax, and as Chakotay moved inside Tom, feeling every inch of himself caressed as he caressed Tom in turn, his control began to fall apart. His orgasm started in earnest and he could no longer stop it, nor did he want to. The tingling moved up his thighs, his scrotum contracted, he pulled partially out of Tom, then plunged back in as the force of his climax hit. There was that moment of dark space in his mind, followed by the spilling of his seed deep inside Tom, and then he felt Tom come, too. Contract around him, spurt hot liquid onto his hand with a groan.
He was so enraptured by the emotional and physical sensations he was experiencing, he almost didn't pick up on what Tom was doing. He was crying. Chakotay wrapped his arms around him as best he could, his heart aching, deeply. He pulled out of the man and moved, encouraging Tom to roll over, finally taking him into a full embrace and letting him cry it out against his neck. He told him repeatedly that he loved him, that he was there, and staying for good.
As Tom calmed, spent on all levels, he eventually fell asleep in Chakotay's arms. Chakotay continued to caress the strong body lying on top of him, conscious of his own heart beating in his chest. He hadn't felt it since the very last time they'd shared a bed. His throat closed, and tears fell out of his eyes, down to the pillow. He would never let himself die like that, let either one of them die like that, again. Never again.
Tom sat quietly, waiting for his best friend's reaction. He'd told Harry everything over lunch and now he patiently waited, fiddling with the cushion on Harry's couch.
The man finally spoke. "So Captain Janeway didn't have a problem with two men being involved, well, romantically?"
He stared at him and threw the cushion down. "I tell you all of this, and that's your reaction? You have nothing to say to me other than that ? Nothing about Chakotay, nothing about me being a father, nothing about Kes -- what the hell?" But Harry was blushing. "Wait a minute... Tell me who it is, Harry, come on, tell me..."
"Who what is," Harry said innocently.
Tom chortled and said nothing.
"Okay, Tom. It's only Greg. Ayala. He and I have been doing a few things together lately, and I don't know, maybe I'm making all of this up in my head. I've just been getting a certain feeling from him. You know."
He was surprised. Ayala. "But since when are you interested in men?"
"I'm not that naive. I've had some experience..."
"Why haven't you ever said something to me before this? God, Harry, I've told you all kinds of things..."
"Hey - you never told me about you and the commander."
Tom snorted. "It was hardly something I'd share, not exactly my finest hour - and not to mention his role on the ship. You still haven't let me know what you think about it all," he said, really wanting to hear the truth, "if you can see me as a father..."
Harry clapped him gently on the back. "I think you'll be a terrific father. Kes was smart to ask you. And as far as you and the commander - will he treat you well, Tom? That's all I want to know."
He thought back to the night before and had to take a deep breath before he could say anything. "Yeah, Har, he treats me better than anyone ever has. Trust me. I only hope that if you and Greg do get together you'll be as lucky."
"Greg's a good man. But you've known him longer than I have."
"Sort of. He's Chakotay's closest friend, though..." Chak's friend. Tom still wanted to know who it was that messed with him and Chakotay, who'd had it in for him. His lover had promised him he'd take care of it. Tom still wanted to know. But Ayala wasn't very close to Seska, and he was certain that woman had had something to do with the whole mess. They'd kept their relationship secret for the first weeks, but Seska had been suspicious, and had had the nerve to break into the captain's quarters in the middle of the night and find them in bed together. Then all hell had broken loose. Even so, Tom hadn't expected Chak to turn on him as he had. Just hadn't expected it. Ayala? "Harry? If Greg ever says anything about me, let me know, ok?"
Harry looked at him strangely. "Sure, Tom. So - when's the baby due?"
"The Doc hasn't quite decided - it's only been a day," Tom said, feeling a grin break out across his face. "Normally, she'd be pregnant for about three months..."
The wait was getting on his nerves. Tom paced the Science Lab yet another time, until Chakotay stood right in front of him to stop his forward momentum. Slow smiles blossomed on their faces.
"How many times have I done this?" Tom said.
"Oh, about fifty, maybe more, lost count." Chakotay took his hand. "We could just go for a walk, that is the advantage of the comm system..."
"Very funny. No. I'm staying here."
"Okay," Chakotay said, letting go of his hand and returning to his seat at one of the stations. He started to hum to himself. Tom stared at the back of his head, shaking his own. How he could be so calm... He returned to his pacing.
It had been a fairly trying few months. Seska had turned on the crew, established her relationship with the Kazon and left after being flushed out as a traitor. It still gave Tom the willies to think what might have happened if he hadn't talked his lover out of following her. He'd never trusted her, and knew that Chak was still furious at her over her part in their breakup. Her traitorous actions against the entire crew had sent him over the edge. But Tom had calmed him down, afraid on a very deep level that Seska would kill the man he loved.
But then he had had his own little excursion after breaking warp 10. He had little memory of that experience. In sick bay before abducting the captain, his body changing, out of his control, Chakotay yelling at the Doctor to do something. Then in sick bay again, with the captain on the next biobed. But this time, the Doctor complained repeatedly to her that the acting commanding officer, a.k.a. his lover and man of his dreams, was comming him every ten minutes for an update. What Tom still chuckled about was the captain's reaction. She'd smiled serenely and told the Doctor that she was not in charge, and any complaints would have to be taken up with the commander. Then she'd wink at Tom and they'd laugh together once the Doctor was back in his office.
When Chakotay had finally been allowed in sick bay, Tom almost felt sorry for the acerbic Doc. The look he'd received from those dark eyes as Chakotay came marching in would have had any normal crew member cowering in their boots. The Doctor ignored him. Chakotay's words were saved for Tom. Something along the lines of, "If you ever do that to me again I'll never forgive you" that Tom ignored as well, for the words were said in between fierce hugging and one or two hard kisses. It seemed to him that Chakotay had forgotten the captain sitting right behind them, but he didn't care. His only retort was, "Take me home." The man did. They'd made love for hours.
The door to the Lab opened and Tom spun around, his heart taking a leap.
"Tom," the Doctor said, smiling, "your daughter has been born. You may come and see her now."
Chakotay was at his side in an instant, taking his hand and propelling them both out the door. And seemingly within another instant he was standing at Kes's bedside, and she was handing him a bundle, and Neelix was grinning, and Chakotay was huddled with him, and all he could see was the tiniest, most beautiful, face he'd ever seen in his life. Her ears had a hint of Ocampa in them, her face was scrunched up tight, and the wispy hair on top of her head was so blond it was almost white. Hello, Martis. He was stunned.
There were voices around him but he couldn't understand what they were saying. There was a pounding in his ears that was all he could hear. There was an arm around his waist that he barely noticed. And without warning, there was a large, bronze hand touching the tiny being he was holding. He looked sharply to his right and his heart melted, there on the spot. Two dimples and sparkling eyes were shining on his child.
"Chakotay," he said softly. The eyes raised to his, and locked tight. "Thank you." They both knew what he meant. Thank you for saving my life. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for doing this, with me. He took one hand off his daughter and cupped Chakotay's face, caressing it with his thumb. He, once more, didn't care who was watching, but leaned in and kissed him. After a long moment of kissing him in return, Chakotay pulled back.
"You're welcome. Congratulations, dad." This time, the dimples were meant for him.
"Hey," Kes teased, "what about me?"
They happily joined her at the bedside. And while Tom talked, and lavished praise on the mother and step-dad, and cooed over the baby, Chakotay called Harry, and the captain, and B'Elanna.
Harry took the communication in Sandrine's, where he was playing pool on another date with Greg. They dropped their cue sticks and took off for sick bay, passing the word around the bar on their way out.
Ken Dalby made a decision over the remainder of his synthale. His former captain and now First Officer had made it crystal clear to him that he would have to apologize to Tom Paris. He could choose the time and place, but it would happen. Or else. The truth was, Ken had no issue with apologizing - he knew he'd been used by Seska for her own ends. The irony of the whole situation wasn't lost on him, either. She'd used him, and he'd branded Tom the user.
He was merely concerned that,
once he confessed, Tom might do him bodily harm, and be able to do it with
impunity, given his relationship with the XO and support from the captain.
But he was beginning to feel good about having earned the respect of Lt.
Tuvok, and wanted to earn Chakotay's, again. To him, the timing seemed
perfect. Tom wouldn't kill him in front of his baby, and might even be
willing to forgive him. Ken finished his drink and left for sick bay, too.